Notably, the neuroprotective potential of transplanted glial precursor cells could be further boosted by engineering them to overexpress the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF, [187]), a pro-survival protein that astrocytes tend to upregulate during the late-stages of disease progression in a mouse model of ALS and sALS patients [188]. This evidence concerns the gene GDNF and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.